


a very dreamy christmas.

by thiyatrack (thxyx)



Series: Kids!Universe [2]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: 7dream, Christmas, M/M, Multi, Self-Indulgent, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, and maya's back, chenji are babies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-25
Updated: 2019-12-25
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:07:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,060
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21957877
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thxyx/pseuds/thiyatrack
Summary: Jeno follows Jaemin around the house with mistletoe in his pocket to whip out whenever he feels like it, and Mark misses Donghyuck. Maya draws a picture of all three of them in antlers and red noses, and Mark misses Donghyuck. Donghyuck's favorite Christmas song, EXO's First Snow, plays on Jeno's Christmas playlist, and Mark misses Donghyuck. There's an effervescent holiday joy in the household, and Donghyuck's name comes up in conversation quite a bit.And Mark misses Donghyuck.
Relationships: Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Mark Lee, Lee Jeno/Na Jaemin
Series: Kids!Universe [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1610668
Comments: 10
Kudos: 127





	a very dreamy christmas.

**Author's Note:**

  * For [maries](https://archiveofourown.org/users/maries/gifts).



> uh, so, to the hyuck to my mark, i thought i'd write you a little something for christmas, and it ended up being 6k haha <3
> 
> you've made such a huge difference to my confidence in my writing and my way of writing itself and i never feel more inspired than i do when i see your icon in the top right corner of my google doc. thank you for being my writing soulmate, and thanks for being one of the people who made 2019 amazing for me.
> 
> merry christmas, mai! ilysm x
> 
> this fic is set in the same universe as so lucky (to have you) but they're not really related at all so you don't necessarily have to read that one for this! also this hasn't been proofread so if there are mistakes im sorry ://

“Let’s buy Papa a reindeer!” squeals Maya excitedly, tugging on Mark’s hand excitedly as she skips along.

“Whoa, slow down, darling,” laughs Mark. “The roads are icy, you don’t want Papa to scold you for getting hurt once he gets back, do you?” On cue, Maya’s sneaker slips on a wet patch of ice, and Mark has to hold her hand tighter to prevent her from falling flat on the cold ground. “See, what did I say?”

“Sorry,” says Maya sheepishly, overcompensating for her initial enthusiasm by slowing down her walking pace so much that they start moving at a snail’s pace. “But what about that reindeer?”

“We can’t buy a reindeer for Papa, who’s going to drive Santa’s sleigh then?” Mark checks his phone for any messages from Donghyuck as they draw up to the mall. There are none. His flight must not have landed yet.

“I think there’s more than eight reindeer in the world, Dad,” frowns Maya. “Unless they’re an enraged species or something. Are they?”

“Endangered, darling, not enraged,” chuckles Mark softly, as he goes over a small list he made of which stores to go to in order to get all the presents he needs to buy. “And, no, they aren’t endangered. They’re just difficult to keep in the house. You’d wake up one day and the reindeer would’ve chewed up all your books. Now we wouldn’t want that, would we?”

Maya, who loves her books more than anything else in the world, lets out a scandalized gasp, shaking her head furiously before she gets distracted by an elaborate Christmas display near the entrance of the mall and then proceeds to excitedly start her next rave on how she wants to buy her Papa a sleigh for Christmas instead so that they can ride around the neighborhood together.

“Okay kiddo, it’s really crowded inside the mall, okay?” warns Mark as they head towards the entrance. He can’t risk losing Maya during the _one_ time that Donghyuck wasn’t around, Donghyuck would never trust him with their daughter ever again. “We’re on a mission, okay? We have to get the best, most perfect presents for everybody. And the most important part of this mission is that you aren’t allowed to let go of my hand under any circumstances, okay?”

“Yes, sir!” salutes Maya, beaming even though she nearly accidentally pokes herself in the eye.

“There’s going to be a lot of people in there, and we can’t let them get to the perfect presents before us, right?” Mark receives a fierce nod in response. “Then let’s go, soldier!”

Mark’s phone buzzes, and he checks it quickly thinking it’s Donghyuck, but he realizes, with slight disappointment, that it’s actually a text from Jaemin. _Boarding the plane now, we can’t wait to see you!_ it reads, followed by an obscene number of kissy emojis, Jaemin’s trademark.

Maya stands on her tiptoes, trying to peer at the phone. “Who was that? Who is Nana?”

“That’s Uncle Jaem to you, kiddo,” says Mark. “Lele and Ji should be landing tonight, are you excited to see them?”

“I can’t wait to see them!” Maya throws in a little skip with her hurried steps as they finally come to a toy store. “Lele’s my best friend in the world. Well, so is Kyla, but she’s from school, so she’s my school best friend, and Lele’s my not-school best friend. Then there’s Ryujin and Jeongin and Beomgyu and…”

Mark listens through Maya listing out all of her friends, school and otherwise, just hoping that she won’t ask to buy gifts for all of them, because Mark’s wallet doesn’t stand a chance against Maya’s active social life, a trait she evidently inherited from Donghyuck, because Mark prefers not talking to people at all if that is an option.

Mark lets Maya run around the aisles of the toy store for a little bit, looking for different presents to give to only her Best best friends. His phone starts ringing and this time it is Donghyuck, so Mark can’t help the soft smile that takes over his features.

“Yo.” The smile is way too evident in Mark’s forced nonchalant tone of voice. Nonchalant for what? They’ve been together for years and yet every time they talk after a substantial period of no contact, Mark subconsciously regresses back to his dumb nineteen-year-old self who thought confessing his crush by messaging the admin of their college’s anonymous confession page was a good idea.

Of course, how was he to know that the person he had a crush on was the very admin of the confession page? That was one variable he hadn’t bothered to take into account because the chance of that had been so small that he had just outright rejected the possibility.

But outcomes with a really low possibility always seem to play quite a large role in Mark’s life, considering that after that confessions page fiasco, the chance that he would end up married and raising a child with that particular crush was virtually nonexistent, but look where he is now.

“Hi,” there’s a similar smile reflected off Donghyuck’s greeting. “I landed.”

“Awesome,” Mark holds up a thumbs-up as Maya holds up a teddy bear with an expectant look on her face. “I was beginning to get a little worried.”

“Yeah, the flight got delayed by a bit,” sighs Donghyuck. “I’m heading to collect my bags now. How’s my baby doing?”

“I’m fine.”

“That’s good, how’s my other baby doing?” laughs Donghyuck.

“She’s currently searching for gifts for all of her Best best friends. There’s a lot of them.”

“No, no, I told her strictly before I left that she’s only allowed to buy gifts for Kyla, and maybe, if she wants, Jeongin as well. I don’t think she thinks you know that. You might want to remind the little devil.”

“Chill, love, she’s not buying that many. She’s actually picking out a train set for Chenle right now, although I think she’s just trying to take advantage of the fact that they’ll be staying for a few days after Christmas as well so that she’ll get to play with it as well.”

“Imagine the look on her face when she opens his gift on Christmas morning and finds out that we got her one for herself.” There’s such a proud paternal overtone to Donghyuck’s words, and Mark’s smile grows fonder. “Can’t believe I’m going to miss Jen and Jaem flying in. I was going to greet them at the airport with a sign that said _welcome back, my favorite chaotic gay thots!”_

“Then I suppose it’s a good thing that you weren’t there to pick them up. They have kids now, Hyuckie. Kids who can read.”

“Wouldn’t hurt to teach Lele some vocabulary.”

“If Jen heard you say that, he might just ban you from going near his kids altogether.”

“Please, I’m their favorite uncle.”

“Nope, I’m pretty sure that’s me.”

“Sure, sure, _totally_ you, love. It’s obviously me, how can it not be me?”

Mark laughs. “Maybe it is you, who knows? I’ll ask them when they get here.”

“You’re going to be way too nice to them for the next four days when I’m not there. Of course they’re going to pick you then,” sulks Donghyuck. “That’s cheating.”

There’s a tug on Mark’s sleeve. “Is that Papa?” asks Maya, eyes hopeful.

“Is that my angel I hear?” asks Donghyuck on the phone. “Hand it over, Mark, I have to talk to my other baby. You’ve had your time.”

“Fine,” huffs Mark with faux petulance. “I’ll call you once we’re done having fun without you.”

Maya chats with Donghyuck for a while as Mark buys the toys that she picked out (luckily only for Kyla, Chenle, Jisung and Jeongin) and they resume their gift mission. Mark still has to buy gifts for Jeno, Jaemin, Yerim from work and that sweet old lady at the café on their street who calls him “son” and gives them extra pastries whenever Mark and Donghyuck take Maya there.

They stop for donuts in the middle of their gift-hunting and Mark takes a video of Maya’s disgusted reaction to trying an espresso for the first time to send to Donghyuck. Maya’s tired when they get back, so Mark lets her watch TV for a while as they stay up waiting for Jeno and Jaemin and the kids.

Maya falls asleep on Mark halfway through an episode of Magic School Bus, so Mark switches over to the Romedy channel and watches The Holiday for a while until he finally hears the doorbell ring. The sound startles Maya awake, but Mark gently tells her she can go back to sleep before getting up (with some difficulty, since his legs fell asleep) to let his guests in.

“Uncle Mark!” Chenle’s smile is all over his face, just as bright as Mark remembers it from the one time he got to see him before. The boy lunges forward and Mark scoops him up in his arms, Chenle’s high-pitched giggle filling the air.

A sleepy Maya totters to her father’s side, and Chenle struggles to escape Mark’s arms, nearly knocking Maya over with his excited hug. All signs of fatigue vanish from Maya’s face once she begins to take in the situation and she drags Chenle into the house by the arm, already talking about the amazing gift she bought for him that he’s _so_ going to love.

“Don’t I get a hug too?” pouts Jaemin as Mark steps forward to help him with his bags. Mark grins before indulging him. Jaemin always gives amazing hugs. “Missed you, dumbass.”

Jisung has fallen asleep in Jeno’s arms, cheek smushed against Jeno’s shoulder, so Jeno merely whispers a greeting to Mark, complete with his usual crescent-eyed smile.

There’s a flurry of activity as Mark helps bring in all of Jeno’s and Jaemin’s luggage - and there’s a _lot,_ because the family is staying for ten days. Chenle and Maya are sent to bed despite their whines of protest - “You’re going to be spending all your time together in the next few days anyway, don’t get sick of each other now,” says Jaemin gently as he smiles knowingly at the way Chenle’s eyes are beginning to droop and Maya looks like she wants to get back to her nap.

Jeno puts Jisung down to sleep in the guest bedroom that Donghyuck cleaned and prepared for them before he left, and once all the kids are sleeping, Mark, Jeno and Jaemin gather in the living room. Mark video-calls Donghyuck and the four of them chat for a while before the fatigue of the long travel starts getting to Jaemin, who starts dozing off on Jeno’s shoulder.

“To think Jaemin was the one who was the best at pulling all-nighters among the five of us,” teases Donghyuck. “Na Jaemin, the weak bitch you are today.”

“You guys should probably go get some rest,” suggests Mark. “Maya has a whole itinerary for every day that you guys are here.”

“I’m looking forward to that,” smiles Jeno. “It’s so good seeing you guys again. Hey, dumbass,” he addresses the grinning image of Donghyuck on Mark’s phone. “Think you could get back earlier? Can’t believe you have to go on your first ever work trip just as we come to town.”

“I’m not as bad as Renjun, please,” says Donghyuck defensively. “That dumb bitch is working throughout the holidays. I wish he could’ve made it too. I’m going to go see him tomorrow, maybe, since he lives only an hour from here.”

“Tell us how that goes. And don’t kill each other by accident,” warns Jaemin.

“That was in college, please. Injunnie and I are mature adults now.”

"In my books, Lee Donghyuck, you will never mature,” says Jaemin, sticking out his tongue and making Jeno roll his eyes.

“I love you too,” grins Donghyuck. “Now give the phone back to my husband and go sleep.”

“Ooh, husband, he says,” says Jaemin, casting Mark an amused look. “I still remember the idiot who wanted to sign off his anonymous confession as Sk8er Boi.”

“Says the one who married his booty call,” retorts Mark.

“There are children in this house,” reminds Jeno, pinching his nose in frustration. “And we were friends with benefits, I was not a _booty call—”_

Once Jaemin finally stops bickering with Donghyuck, Mark is finally left alone to talk to Donghyuck, but he no longer has any energy left in him. There’s a happy kind of tired blanket resting over his being as he struggles to stay awake, listening to Donghyuck go over what he’s done and what he needs to do.

This is the first time that Mark is spending his holidays, even just a part of them, away from Donghyuck, and it feels like a part of him is missing.

“Come back fast, yeah?” says Mark. “I miss you.”

Donghyuck pauses for a second, even though he shouldn’t be surprised by raw emotion anymore. “I miss you too. I’ll be back before you know it. Now go to sleep, I know how many yawns you’ve been stifling.”

  
  


.｡*♡

  
  


The others in the house make sure that Mark is occupied enough over the next few days, with visits to Christmas related events and the theater and cooking endeavors that Jaemin has to banish Mark from the kitchen for after the latter nearly sets the kitchen on fire by burning frosting.

"You only melt the butter. Nothing else goes on the stove," explains Jaemin while Jeno attempts to stop laughing in the background. 

"Dad can't cook at all. We mostly have ramyeon and mac n' cheese when Papa isn't here," chips in Maya.

"My Appa once burnt the water while trying to make ramyeon," adds Jisung, giggling.

"Why are you exposing me like this, I thought I was 161?" complains Jeno.

Jisung's current habit is quantifying his love with absolutely random numbers and making his parents fight for the higher score. "You're 160. Papa is 161."

"Yes!" says Jaemin, highfiving Jisung and then sticking his tongue out at Jeno. "Jisungie knows what's up."

"Children are so fickle, and for god's sake, we're supposed to be a team, Nana," protests Jeno. "Lele, I'm 161 for you, right?"

"You're both zero for me."

Mark grins. "He's a diplomatic one."

There's a general feeling of excitement and happiness in the air. Chenle and Maya decide to write their own Christmas play that they're going to perform on Christmas Eve. Jaemin takes charge of most of the cooking, taking the kids' help to bake Christmas cookies and cakes.

Jeno takes care of helping Maya make cards for her dads, helps all the kids with wrapping gifts, and takes care of Jisung's occasional tantrums. Mark takes out his guitar from time to time and has the kids sing off-key renditions of Christmas carols - Chenle is the only one of the three who can carry a tune at all, but Jisung's rendition of "For Please Now We Dad" is the cutest of all.

Maya generally takes up most of the morning video call with Donghyuck, with every variation of _I miss you_ that she could possibly come up with her vocabulary. She tells him at length about everything they do all day, and there's a homesickness in his face that he tries to hide, so when it's Mark's turn to talk to Donghyuck, he makes sure to focus more on how he's looking forward to Donghyuck getting back, rather than going on about how much he misses him.

Jeno follows Jaemin around the house with mistletoe in his pocket to whip out whenever he feels like it, and Mark misses Donghyuck. Maya draws a picture of all three of them in antlers and red noses, and Mark misses Donghyuck. Donghyuck's favorite Christmas song, EXO's First Snow, plays on Jeno's Christmas playlist, and Mark misses Donghyuck. There's an effervescent holiday joy in the household, and Donghyuck's name comes up in conversation quite a bit.

And Mark misses Donghyuck.

At night, their conversations are a little more subdued, just a rundown of what happened during each of their days. Donghyuck's tired laugh and abrasive complaints about his annoying coworkers and the overbearing holiday atmosphere fill up a large part of the conversation, and Mark is more than happy to indulge Donghyuck's profanity laced rants.

"Finally went to see Injunnie today," says Donghyuck, grinning. He turns the camera to reveal the mentioned male on the couch next to him, scrolling through his phone idly. "Say hi, Injun."

"Hi Mark, please take your husband back, he's driving me crazy," fake-pleads Renjun, giving Mark a pained grimace.

"He's such a liar, he literally tackled me and sobbed about how much he'd missed me as soon as I showed up," giggles Donghyuck, poking Renjun in the side. "Injunnie doesn't actually hate me, isn't that a nice surprise?"

"I didn't tackle him, I might've hugged him a little out of courtesy, and I didn't sob either, I said his stupid face is familiar and I like familiarity," huffs Renjun, before catching Mark's disbelieving stare and sighing. "Okay, fine, so I missed his stupid face. No one else is nearly as fun around here."

Donghyuck coos as he squishes Renjun's face. "Isn't he a cutie! Hasn't changed at all."

"It's only been two years, did you expect me to have grown another head or something?"

"As in did I expect you to grow taller? I definitely hope not. Can't risk having you actually being able to reach the top shelf."

The bickering is familiar too. "I wish you could've come here for Christmas too, Injunnie," says Mark wistfully.

Renjun was probably the most important member of their little group, holding them together when they were most at risk of being torn apart. He fixed Donghyuck's and Jaemin's worst fight to date, getting them to talk it out until they realized it was all the result of one miscommunicated detail. He got Jeno to confront his feelings after he made the mistake of falling in love with his friend with benefits.

After Jeno and Jaemin started dating for real during their last semester, Renjun would make jokes about being the fifth wheel, but the truth was that they'd all been together for so long that their group operated independent of their romantic relationships. Renjun was as important, if not more.

A neutral base of sorts, an unbiased point of view, the easiest to approach, the one who'd care for them equally, and the one who'd care the most. Having a little reunion without him didn't feel complete at all.

"Me too," sighs Renjun. "I miss you guys so much. Can't believe I'm being forced to work on Christmas. I think of quitting this job a lot, this might just push me over the edge."

Mark doesn't quite know what to say. Donghyuck changes the subject quickly and they continue their conversation for a while. 

"I'll see you tomorrow," grins Donghyuck as they're ending the call. "I love you!"

"Love you more," smiles Mark, a ridiculously unbridled joy freed in his chest as soon as he's reminded that he'll have Donghyuck back just in time for Christmas. "Can't wait!"

  
  


.｡*♡

  
  


It's 2:03 PM, afternoon of Christmas Eve. Jeno has taken Chenle and Jisung to the supermarket for some last minute groceries while Maya's dancing around the living room singing "Papa's going to be back for Christmas, Papa's going to be home for Christmas," and that's when the call comes in.

Mark's just confused at first. "Hyuckie? Didn't you board the plane half an hour ago?" Jaemin's head snaps in his direction, concern in his eyes.

Mark pauses, looks at Maya with something akin to pity and dread, and tells Jaemin he'll be back in a minute. Maya looks at Jaemin curiously but Jaemin offers no explanation, simply beckoning Maya over and showing her pictures of her, Chenle and Jisung that Jeno had taken on his camera over the last few days.

Maya runs to Mark as soon as he comes back into the room. "What did Papa say?"

Mark sits down on the sofa and tries for a smile. It's a tired, disappointed smile, and Maya frowns immediately. "What did he say, Dad?"

"I don't think Papa will be able to make it back in time for Christmas, darling," says Mark gently. "There was a snowstorm, so he can't fly out from there."

"Oh," is all Maya has to say, lips pressed together as she looks at the ground. "So he can't take a train."

"It's Christmas Eve, darling, all the trains are booked out." Mark's trying so hard to be brave, Jaemin can tell, but his smile is wavering. "It's okay, we can have a second Christmas with Papa day after tomorrow."

"But it won't be Christmas then," says Maya sadly. "This sucks."

Mark would probably call her out on her language, but he just nods in defeat. "Yeah, it really does. But we're going to have fun and celebrate when Papa gets back, I promise."

Maya nods, voice soft and hesitant. "Okay, Dad."

"Come here, give me a hug."

There's the sound of a door slamming, and Chenle and Jisung burst into the room, followed by Jeno, who looks like he's tired of getting conned into buying those chocolate chip reindeer-shaped cookies yet again.

"Maya noona, put in your outside clothes, we're going to the park!" says Jisung, reaching for Maya's hand as she frees herself from her father's hug.

"Go with them," encourages Mark. "Play for a while. Things are going to be just fine."

Maya nods, taking Jisung's hand as they run to her room to fetch her jacket and mittens.

"What happened?" asks Jeno worriedly, taking a seat next to Mark.

"Hyuck's flight got cancelled," explains Jaemin, emerging from the kitchen with a cup of tea in his hand that he hands to Mark.

"Aw, Mark, that _sucks_ ," says Jeno, rubbing comforting circles on Mark's back. "When's the next flight out of there?”

“Tomorrow evening,” says Mark. “The car rentals are full, the trains are all booked, and besides, it’s a fucking snowstorm. I wouldn’t want him to put himself at risk trying to get back here. They’re booking hotels for everyone stranded there, but he said he’d go stay at Injun’s.”

“Yeah, that’s better, at least Injun won’t be alone for Christmas,” says Jaemin, a futile attempt to find the silver lining.

“They could have both been spending Christmas with us, though,” says Mark bitterly.

“Yeah, Markie, but you can’t really do anything about that right now,” sighs Jeno. “It would’ve been the absolute best if they could’ve been here, but unfortunately this is how things turned out, and we can’t help that right now.”

Mark rubs his temple, lips pressed together in a thin line. “I know, it just… I hate not having him around.”

Jeno and Jaemin exchange an empathetic look, and Mark almost feels bad because not having Donghyuck around for Christmas sucked, but at least he didn’t have to go a whole year living apart from him. Jaemin still likes to tease Jeno for the way he showed up at his apartment unexpectedly after all that time and tripped and fell face first onto the carpet while trying to get on his knees to propose.

“We’ll have an even bigger celebration when he gets back, I promise,” says Jeno, and Mark feels like a five year old now, but he just nods, attempting to smile. He can’t afford to act like a sodden rag now, he still has to have fun with Jeno and Jaemin and Chenle and Jisung and _Maya,_ of course, because Maya would never be able to enjoy herself if her father was sullen.

“That’s my brave son,” coos Jaemin, pinching Mark’s cheek affectionately as a little of the light returns to his eyes and his smile becomes a little brighter. “We’ll have the best Christmas ever, even if it’s a little delayed.”

  
  


.｡*♡

  
  


Jisung reminds Jaemin a little bit of an angel.

The boy is sleeping peacefully in Jaemin’s arms, his head resting on Jaemin’s shoulder, having fallen asleep halfway through their Christmas movie marathon. Chenle and Maya are still watching, eyes glued to the TV, whispering to each other from time to time. Mark sits with them on the floor, occasionally joining in with their whispering.

Jeno sits with Jaemin on the couch, holding his hand, their sides pressed together. His fingers tap out a light beat over Jaemin’s knuckles. Comfort. Jeno has always been the most comforting element of Jaemin’s life.

“First holiday season with the kids is going a lot better than expected, huh?” whispers Jeno, a soft smile lacing his words. Jaemin turns to look at him. There’s a soft light in Jeno’s eyes as he leans forward and gently places a kiss on Jaemin’s lips, which curve into a smile as Jeno pulls away.

It is. It is going so much better than expected. Minus Donghyuck and Renjun not being able to be there, Chenle and JIsung have been having the time of their lives. Neither Jaemin nor Jeno ever celebrated Christmas growing up. Coming from a broken family, Jaemin had always associated a sense of looming dread with the holidays and decided that that was the last thing he wanted for his kids. He still didn’t know anything about Christmas traditions or Christmas movies or Christmas food, and that’s where the Lee family came in.

Jaemin has a lot of parental discussions with Donghyuck, so the latter, sensing Jaemin’s cluelessness on where to start making the holidays memorable for his kids, had invited their entire family over to spend the holidays with them. Jaemin’s heart melts when he sees Maya explaining to Chenle what he can draw on his cookies, or when he sees the light on Jisung’s eyes when Mark asks him to pick out which Christmas movies he wants to watch. 

It makes him a lot more emotional than he’d like to show to see his kids - who haven’t had a Christmas so far since the orphanage never celebrated it - have what he never had as a kid. The picture-perfect smiles, the happy families.

And he doesn’t know how to put all this into words, but with the way that Jeno just nods, squeezing Jaemin’s hand thrice, tells Jaemin that he understood.

It’s another half a movie before Jaemin decides to go put Jisung to sleep in the room. Once Jisung is tucked into the covers, Jaemin’s about to leave the bedroom when his phone starts buzzing in his pocket. He fishes it out. The contact reads _injunnie,_ followed by an obscene number of kissy emojis, the way all of Jaemin’s closest contacts do.

“Hey, kiddo.”

“Not Injun here. I’m not a child.” There’s a different voice, one that sounds a lot more like Renjun’s than the one who answered, supplying an abrasive reply in the background, something that sounds like _fuck you, I’m not a child either!_

Jaemin grins. “Hey, loser.”

“Hi,” sing-songs Donghyuck. “Is Mark anywhere around?”

“Nope. Did you mean to call him?”

“Of course not, Nana, there’s only one contact titled _best friend_ on my phone.” _And it’s mine,_ supplies Renjun in the background. “Not yours, Injun, yours is _hellspawn._ ”

“Am I on speaker?” grins Jaemin. “Hi, Injunnie! I miss you, dork.” He’s suddenly aware that he’s speaking too loudly with a sleeping kid in the room, but Jisung’s out like a light.

“Listen to me, Nana,” says Donghyuck seriously. “I have a very important mission for you, and under no circumstance can you tell Mark.”

“You’re addressing me like a child as though I do not have a couple of my own,” points out Jaemin. “Use your adult words, Hyuckie. You don’t have a mission for me, you want me to do you a favor.”

“Correct, assface, I want you to do me a favor.”

“Well, look who’s using their adult words _now._ ”

“Can I just tell you what I need you to do?”

“I mean, sure, what’s preventing you?”

Donghyuck lets out a long-suffering sigh. “I need you to keep Mark awake for about two more hours. He tends to sleep early on Christmas Eve, so I need you to keep him awake.”

“Are you doing what I think you’re doing?”

“I would give the phone to Injun for confirmation, but I don’t want him to talk on the phone and drive.”

“Lee Donghyuck, you beautiful bastard.”

Jaemin can just about hear Donghyuck’s radiant grin as he says, “Jaeminnie, I’m coming home.”

  
  


.｡*♡

  
  


“Alright, they’re both been tucked into bed,” says Mark, walking back to the living room. “I think I’ll go get some sleep too.”

“No!” says Jaemin, perhaps a little too quickly. Mark peers at him curiously. “Uh, well, now that the kids are asleep, we can watch an adult movie.”

Jeno’s head snaps to him, scandalized, and Jaemin realizes his mistake. “Oh my god, no, I didn’t mean porn.”

“Well, thank god for that,” laughs Mark. “But nah, we watched three movies today. I think I’ll pass on another.”

“Fine, how about one episode from a TV show? Just one?” asks Jaemin, giving Mark a pleading look.

“Why are you so intent on watching something together now? We can do it tomorrow. I always like sleeping early on Christmas Eve.”

“I know, but I suddenly got all nostalgic for the days we used to stay up and watch TV series together back at the hostel,” says Jaemin, trying to sound convincing enough. “I really miss that, can’t we just watch one episode together? I started a new series recently, and I think you’d really like it.”

Mark finally gives in, taking the unoccupied seat on the couch. “Sure, why not.”

Jaemin plays the first episode of Sherlock, trusting that Mark is completely unaware that the episode runs for nearly an hour and a half. Despite being constantly worried that Mark might take the remote from him and check the duration, lucky for Jaemin, Mark gets way too invested in the plot and doesn’t even register the sound of a key clicking in the lock of the front door.

  
  


.｡*♡

  
  


“Alright, how are we going to do this?” asks Donghyuck as they wait outside the door. “Should I just walk in? Or should I enter dramatically, with some pizzazz?”

“Please let me never hear you say _pizzazz_ again,” says Renjun, but he’s grinning. “Just walk in, Hyuckie, it doesn’t matter what you do, he’s going to be over the moon due to the fact that you’re _here,_ because that’s really all that matters.”

Donghyuck nods once resolutely, rushing forward to trap Renjun in a hug, that is instantly returned. “Thanks for driving me all the way here.”

Renjun smiles, wide and sincere. “Thank you for showing up again. I was so miserable working and seeing you made me so happy. I missed you so much. I missed all of you so much. Nothing is worth not spending my Christmas with you guys.”

“You’ll find a new job quick enough, you’re a programming genius,” assures Donghyuck, furiously blinking away tears from Renjun’s unexpected emotional outburst.

“I totally am,” says Renjun, voice thick before he laughs at Donghyuck and punches him playfully. “Don’t go all soft on me now.”

“But that’s exactly what you did!” says Donghyuck incredulously, just as Renjun turns the key in the lock and shoves him inside the house.

All three occupants of the couch look up at the exact same time. Donghyuck wish he had the sense to record this moment. Jaemin’s face breaks into a triumphant grin as he pumps a fist in the air, Jeno’s eyes widen before a wave of understanding ripples over his expression, and Mark’s jaw drops, his eyes bugging out of his head as though he just saw a ghost.

Donghyuck waits until Mark has shakily gotten up from the couch before he takes a couple quick strides forward and launches himself into Mark’s arms. Mark holds onto him like a lifeline, an anchor, and Donghyuck buries his head in the hollow of Mark’s neck, taking in his warmth, breathing in the familiar fabric softener smell that always lingers on all the clothes they wash in that household, something that always distinctly reminds him of home.

Donghyuck finally raises his head to look at Mark’s flushed face, the latter’s speech a jumble of half-formed questions and disbelieving laughs. He leans in and presses his lips to Mark. Once, twice, and then once again, until Mark stops trying to question the reality of the situation and simply melts into Donghyuck’s arms.

There’s a laugh in the background. “Y’all are gross.”

Mark slowly regains some of his words. “I can’t even… Injunnie, you guys drove all the way here?”

“Sure did,” nods Renjun. “Like Hyuck was going to miss spending Christmas with you.”

“I wasn’t sure, but it was mostly Injun’s idea to drive,” explains Donghyuck. “I think he got tired of my whining.”

“Sorta,” laughs Renjun, his head poking adorably out of Jeno’s shoulder as they hug. “For once, Donghyuck and I united forces for something we agreed on: we didn’t want to spend Christmas without you guys.”

“Come here,” says Mark, breaking away from Donghyuck to give Renjun a tight hug. “Thank you so, so much. I’m so glad that you’re here.”

“Nana!” Donghyuck squeals before jumping on the mentioned male excitedly. “Legend, you managed to keep him awake.”

“You knew about this?” asks Mark. “Unbelievable.”

“It was the least I could do, really,” says Jaemin to Donghyuck, beaming.

“Jenpie, I missed you so much,” pouts Donghyuck, lumbering into Jeno’s hug clumsily. “How’s it been going, babysitting three babies?”

“Maya’s an angel and manages to keep herself and Lele out of trouble, so relatively easy,” grins Jeno, swinging Donghyuck from side to side.

“Of course, that’s why I wasn’t talking about them. I was talking about our husbands and Jisung,” snarks Donghyuck, laughter doubling at the way Renjun cackles at this.

In the midst of all the chaos, a sleepy duo wanders out of their bedroom, wondering why there’s such a large commotion coming from the living room. The adults don’t even notice them at first, until there’s a screech of “Papa!”, followed by a higher pitched screech of “Uncle Injun!” and the kids make a beeline for the respective newcomers.

Donghyuck picks Maya up and spins her around a few times, hugging her tight to his chest as she giggles and throws her arms around her neck, pressing a wet kiss to his cheek. “I missed you so much! Dad said you wouldn’t be home for Christmas.”

“I thought I wouldn’t be home for Christmas either, angel,” says Donghyuck, placing a gentle kiss on her forehead. “But then Santa dropped me and Uncle Injun here after he was passing by and saw that we wanted to be back here for you.”

“He let me drive the sleigh,” adds Renjun, bouncing Chenle up and down in his arms.

“Whoa, Uncle Injun, that’s so cool,” marvels Chenle, eyes wide like quarters.

Jisung also totters in, sleepily rubbing his eyes as he looks with hopeful confusion at the loud gathering. “Is it Christmas yet?”

Mark looks up at the clock. “Well, it’s past midnight, so technically, yes.”

They settle in a large circle on the floor around the tree, Donghyuck curled up against Mark’s side with Maya on his lap, talking a mile a minute. Chenle and Jisung both settle themselves on Renjun’s lap, answering Mark’s and Donghyuck’s earlier question about who their favorite uncle is. Jaemin curls up in Jeno’s arms, and once they’re all comfortable, they start passing gifts around.

It’s 12:54 AM, Christmas morning, and Maya is talking about how much she loves her train set, Mark and Donghyuck watching her fondly. Jisung is hugging the plushie that Maya got him tightly to her chest, and Chenle is explaining all the structures he’s going to build with his new Tinkertoy set to Renjun. Jeno and Jaemin are placing bets on what’s in the remaining boxes, something that Donghyuck joins as well until Mark tells all of them not to gamble when there are children in the room.

There’s that effervescent holiday joy in the air, and it finally feels like they’re complete.

Picture-perfect smiles, one big happy family.

  
  


.｡*♡

**Author's Note:**

> [twitter](https://twitter.com/thiyatrack) // [curiouscat](https://curiouscat.me/thiyatrack) // [aus and art on twt](https://twitter.com/pepperminthiya)


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